Category: Words To Live By

A friend of mine from SAA told me the other day a very disheartening thing. He had been talking to a tenant in his building about another tenant who had suddenly passed away that also just so happened to have been a convicted sex offender. When he told me this other tenant he had been speaking to said “They got what they deserve!”, it really broke my heart.

Sadly, I’m sure many others out there in the world would probably agree with this negative comment. I don’t though because I believe all people are worthy and deserving of forgiveness. In all honesty, it truly does bother me when I hear things like this. I do my very best to operate off of the same principles that Jesus did when he was alive. After all, wasn’t he the one who forgave Mary Magdalene for being a prostitute and told her to go and sin no more, which indeed she never did. And from what my friend told me, the tenant who passed away never did either. In fact, he had been known to be quite generous and giving of his time in the building he lived in, always trying to reach out and help others. Yet, unfortunately, he never could quite shake that stigmata of being a convicted sex offender, as it continued to taint the views of him by others such as from this tenant.

Look, I was molested myself as a 12-year-old, but I also did the work to forgive the one who molested me when I got older. Whether he went on to do the same behaviors to anyone else or not I can’t say. What I can say though is that I freed myself from feeling or saying those disparaging comments like what this tenant had said.

In the SAA program, I’ve met many who are convicted offenders, some for the slightest of thing, and others for some pretty serious acts. Regardless of their offenses though, I’ve always treated them with unconditional love, forgiveness, and peace because if I didn’t, I’d be going against the spiritual teachings I’ve been learning these past few years of my life.

I absolutely want to do my very best to live as Jesus did, to love as Jesus did, and to forgive as Jesus did. But I must say it takes a lot to do that. It took me looking into my past and releasing all resentments, all anger, and all hate. And it took me learning to practice doing that on a daily basis in the present as well because things happen all the time around me that can really challenge this.

The bottom line though is that I believe deep down in every single human being on this planet is a piece of God. So why shouldn’t everyone then be worthy and deserving of unconditional love and forgiveness, including those that are convicted sex offenders? Maybe if we gave them all a lot more of that, there might be a lot less repeat offenders and negative energy floating around towards them…

Peace, love light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Donald Trump. His name is everywhere it seems like lately. He’s constantly in the news and I feel as if everyone around me is always talking about this man. And I’m really concerned about that. Why? Because of the growing dissension in our country that appears to be closely tied to his 2016 Presidential Campaign.

I should probably clarify this right off the bat though. I’m not for or against Donald Trump. I’m just overly worried about what’s going to happen if he becomes our next President. There’s been protests, violence, racism, and extremely strong judgments against entire classes of people that have arisen with his rise to political stardom.

And that scares me.

Our country has worked so hard for equality over the last century on so many levels and in recent years, has even made great strides towards establishing peace amongst all of us. But much of that is starting to feel like it’s unravelling the more Donald Trump moves closer to living in the White House.

Back when Barack Obama took office, I used to hear so many negative people say they thought he was the anti-Christ and I never quite understood that. Because not once have I ever felt unsafe with him as our President. Not once have I ever felt as if we were moving in the opposite direction from which our country has come since the early 1900’s. And not once did I ever feel as if we were moving backwards to a time when segregation between each other was the norm.

I’m beginning to wonder because of all this if my previous incarnation was a hippie from the 60’s since that’s all I ultimately want for our world. To coexist peacefully with everyone else, with no judgments, and with unconditional love. But as we move closer and closer to leaving another decade behind us, I sometimes wonder if we are headed in the wrong direction, falling into greater polarization and forgetting about what unites us all together, which is our hearts and souls.

I can’t honestly say if that’s truly what’s happening, or whether that would actually happen if Donald Trump became our country’s next President. What I can say though is that if he does become the next Commander-In-Chief, I only pray he guides us more in the direction of love and peace between all. I know that may sound so trite and even far too optimistic for any President to achieve. But it’s what I see and long for and would hope I could achieve if I was to ever be in a position such as that.

Sadly, our country and the world is not there right now. Things are broken, many of us are broken, and plenty are disillusioned with life, seeking something, someone, anything, that might guide us into the light or any light for that matter. Look, I’ve been there for awhile now, going through a transformation of my own. Except it hasn’t been because of some person, place, or thing I found here on Earth. My catalyst has been my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God. And only God has shown me how to love everyone. Only God found the way for me to be more at peace with myself, which in turn has helped me be in peace with all others.

So regardless of whether Donald Trump becomes our next leader and regardless of what happens to our country with this year’s Presidential election, the only thing I can do is to continue trying to create more unconditional love and peace everywhere I go. And while that may feel like I’m often fighting against the tide lately, I still envision life where we can all coexist without hate, anger, and the like. I just hope whomever becomes our next President will somehow find that same desire within themselves as well…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Have you ever had someone “butt-dial” you by accident? If you have, do you normally just hang up after figuring that out or have you ever actually paid attention to what was going on the other end of that accidental call? Recently, I faced this very thing with someone I considered to be a pretty decent friend, but when I heard what was being said about me on the other end of their butt-dial, I wondered if it had been my Higher Power watching out for me somehow.

Sometimes I think my Higher Power really does step in when it’s for my greatest good and allow things like a butt-dial to happen for a specific reason. In this case, I had just contacted this friend looking to see how their day went, yet upon calling them, it sounded as if they picked up and then accidentally hung up. So when my phone rang shortly after that with their name on my caller id, I assumed they had simply hit the wrong button on their phone. But after saying “Hello?” a few times to no avail, I listened for a moment and suddenly heard my name, except it wasn’t being spoken directly to me. Instead it was being said to whomever my friend was in the car with and sadly, what was said after that didn’t appear to be very nice at all.

Ironically, up until that point, I actually had been praying on and off about this person for some time because of multiple experiences with them where each had left me wondering if this person truly valued me a friend or not. On some level, I kept finding myself in the position of giving far more than receiving with them, yet, I’m also one of those people who try to see the best in everyone, which usually ends up translating into a friendship lasting far longer than it was originally intended to.

With all that being said, although you may think it strange, I’m inclined to believe this butt-dial was essentially my Higher Power’s answer to all those prayers I had been sending out about this friend for some time. And while you also might think I’d be somewhat resentful about the amount of time and dedication I placed into that friendship throughout the previous year, I ended up feeling quite the opposite. You see, my Higher Power helped me to transform it into something much better, which was gratitude. Gratitude that I could now detach from this person with love and place my energy into much healthier friendships.

So the next time you get a butt-dial from someone you might be having doubts about on any level, maybe it’s the Universe working in a strange way to communicate a message to you that will provide you such much-needed clarity.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson